1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector with a shorting terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-129191 and FIG. 7 herein both show a connector with a shorting terminal that was developed by the inventor of the subject invention. This connector includes a male housing 100 that is connectable with a female housing 110. A plurality of male terminal fittings 101 and a shorting terminal 102 are provided in the male housing 100. The shorting terminal 102 has terminal contacts 102A that contact and short the male terminal fittings 101 when the male and female housings 100 and 110 are not connected. Receiving pieces 102B are formed at the front end of the shorting terminal 102 and extend obliquely toward a side wall 103 of the male housing 100. The female housing 110 has a pushing portion 111 that contacts the receiving pieces 102B during connection to displace the receiving pieces 102B down in FIG. 7 and toward the side wall 103, thereby resiliently deforming the shorting terminal 102 and disengaging the terminal contacts 102A from the male terminal fittings 101. As a result, the shorted state of the female terminal fittings 101 is canceled.
Consideration has been given to elongating the receiving pieces 102B for more securely bringing the pushing portion 111 into contact with the receiving pieces 102B. Such a design ensures a wide permissible contact range of the pushing portion 111 with the receiving pieces 102B even if the female housing 110 shakes vertically or if a tolerance of dimensional precision or assembling precision is large. Therefore, the pushing portion 111 can be brought securely into contact with the receiving pieces 102B.
However, elongation of the receiving pieces 102B shortens the space between the side wall 103 of the male housing 100 and the leading ends of the receiving pieces 102B. Thus, a displacement stroke of the receiving pieces 102B becomes smaller, which leads to a smaller displacement stroke of the terminal contacts 102A of the shorting terminal 102. A small displacement stroke of the terminal contacts 102A prevents having a large space between the terminal fittings 101 and the shorting terminal 102 even after the shorted state of the terminal fittings 101 is canceled. This presents a problem in reliability of a shorted state canceling function.
In view of the above situation, an object of the present invention is to improve reliability of a shorted state canceling function.
The invention is directed to a connector with at least first and second housings that are connectable with each other. Terminal fittings and a shorting terminal are provided in the first housing. The shorting terminal normally contacts and shorts the terminal fittings. However, a shorted state of the terminal fittings can be cancelled by resiliently or elastically deforming the shorting terminal out of engagement with the terminal fittings. Receiving pieces are formed at the leading end of the shorting terminal and extend oblique to a connecting direction of the housings and toward a side wall of the first housing. A pushing portion is provided in the second housing and is adapted to contact the receiving pieces and to displace them toward the side wall portion during connection of the housings. An escaping portion is provided at the side wall of the first housing for avoiding interference with the receiving pieces when the receiving pieces are displaced toward the side wall by the pushing portion.
The displaced receiving pieces enter the escaping portion. Thus, the receiving pieces are displaced to a larger degree and the shorting terminal also is deformed to a larger degree as compared to a case where no escaping portion is provided. Accordingly, a large space is provided between the shorting terminal and the terminal fittings when the shorted state is canceled, and the reliability of a shorted state canceling function is improved.
The escaping portion preferably penetrates through the side wall first connector housing. Therefore, the receiving pieces can deflect a larger distance as compared to a case where a recess or bottomed hole is formed in the side wall.
The pushing portion preferably has a slanted surface oblique to the connecting direction of the housings. Additionally, the receiving pieces preferably have substantially the same inclination as the slanted surface before the shorting terminal contacts the pushing portion.
The second housing preferably has a recess that is continuous with the pushing portion and substantially parallel with the connecting direction of the housings. The shorting terminal is held in contact with the recess when the housings are connected with each other, thereby restricting displacement of the shorting terminal toward the terminal fittings.
The shorting terminal preferably comprises a plurality of resilient contact pieces folded back from a main section to extend towards the terminal fittings. The resilient contact pieces each comprise an angled terminal contact portion and an extending portion that extends forward from the front end of the terminal contact portion. The receiving piece extends oblique to the connecting direction of the housings from the front end of the extending portion.
The first connector housing preferably comprises a receptacle in which the second connector housing is insertable. A portion of the receptacle and the pushing portion define a space into which the shorting terminal is insertable when the connector housings are connected with each other.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments and accompanying drawings. It should be understood that even though embodiments are described separately, single features thereof may be combined to additional embodiments.